Trumpet embouchure



P 7 v J. R. BROOKS L 3,339,444

TRUMPET EMBOUCHURE Filed Jan. 7, 1966 P/GT 4 5 /8 INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,339,444 TRUMPET EMBOUCHURE Jerry R. Brooks, 1716 Merrywood Way, Gainesville, Tex. 76240 Filed Jan. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 519,340 7 Claims. (Cl. 84--399) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A substitute for lip embouchure for musical wind instruments such as trumpets, cornets, and the like, consisting of a rigid tubular main stem adapted to be inserted in a musical wind instrument. The stem has a hollow bellshaped head portion. A tubular flexible artificial lip assembly is secured to the head portion. The tubular lip assembly is oval in cross-section and has a horizontally-elongated bore. The tubular lip assembly is held in the players mouth This invention relates to mouthpieces for wind musical instruments, and more particularly to an improved embouchure for musical instruments such as trumpets, cornets, trombones, or the like, wherein the musical tone emitted by the instrument is ordinarily produced by vibrating or changing the configuration of the players lips.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved mouthpiece for a wind musical instrument for simulating the embouchure ordinarily employed to produce a musical tone, the improved mouthpiece being relatively simple in construction, being operated by varying the pressure exerted thereon by the users teeth, instead of by the action of the facial muscles of the user, and enabling a wind musical instrument to be played without the necessity of intensive and sustained practice. 9

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved mouthpiece for producing artificially the embouchure of a wind musical instrument, the mouthpiece involving relatively few parts, being durable in construction, being easy to control, and being economical to manufacture.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and claims, and from the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan View of an improved mouthpiece for wind musical instruments constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal vertical cross-sectional view taken through the mouthpiece of FIGURE 1 substantially on the line 2--2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an end elevational view of the resilient deformable mouthpiece body employed in the mouthpiece assembly of FIGURES 1 and 2.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the rigid baflle plate employed in the mouthpiece assembly of FIGURES 1 and 2.

FIGURE 5 is a transverse vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line 55 of FIGURE 2 and illustrating the manner in which the resilient deformable mouthpiece body is distorted in order to provide variation in the tone emitted by the associated wind musical instrument.

A prime purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved embouchure for such musical instruments as trumpets, cornets, trombones, or the like, in which the musical tone is normally produced by the vibrations or changes in configuration of the players lips. The musician causes the frequency of these vibrations to vary, as necessary, by employing certain of the facial muscles surrounding the mouth to stretch or relax the lips. To be employed effectively, these muscles must be maintained in a highlydeveloped state by regular exercise. For the amateur or occasional musician, this regular practice is often very difiicult or impossible to realize, and the instrument is, therefore, played poorly, or not at all. However, the muscle system used for biting is exercised daily and is both strong and flexible. The present invention utilizes the muscle system used for biting to control the configuration of an artificial pair of lips and, therefore, is employed to produce the desired embouchure.

Referring to the drawing, 11 generally designates an improved mouthpiece constructed in accordance with the present invention to provide the embouchure of a windmusical instrument. The mouthpiece assembly 11 comprises a rigid tubular stem member 12 adapted to be inserted in a wind-musical instrument, such as a trumpet, cornet, trombone, or the like, for example, the instrument shown in dotted view at 13 in FIGURE 1. The stem member 12 is provided at one end with an enlarged bellshaped head portion 14 having the enlarged bell-shaped interior cavity 15 which merges with the rearwardly-flaring elongated main bore 16 of the stern member 12. The rigid stem member 12 is thus shaped generally with the same configuration as a conventional metal mouthpiece for a wind-musical instrument.

Designated generally at 17 is an artificial lip assembly comprising a generally tubular main mouthpiece body 18 of resilient deformable material, such as rubber, or the like, or of resilient deformable plastic material, the body 18 being of relatively yieldable consistency so it can be easily deformed, but being sufiiciently elastic to readily resume its normal configuration. The generally tubular main mouthpiece body 18 is provided with an external shell portion 19, also of resilient deformable material, but which is preferably somewhat firmer in its consistency. If so desired, the main body 18 and the shell member 19 may be made integral and may be molded as a single body.

As shown in FIGURE 5, the generally tubular mouthpiece body 18 is generally oval in transverse cross-sectional shape and has a horizontally-elongated central bore 20, the 'body 18 defining a duct which is thus of horizontally-elongated shape. The bore or duct 20 merges with the horizontally-elongated bore of the flattened end portion 21 defined by the outer shell member 19, the flattened shape of said end portion facilitating the insertion of the mouthpiece into the players mouth. The body 18 is thickened at its inner portion so that the walls of the duct 20 converge vertically inwardly from the tapering free end 21 of the resiliently-deformable mouthpiece assembly, the region of maximum wall thickness defining the horizontally-elongated mouthpiece orifice which controls the pitch of the tones generated by the mouthpiece when in use.

As shown in FIGURE 5, the cross-sectional shape of the body 18 may be varied by exerting biting pressure on the flattened end portion of the resiliently-deformable mouthpiece assembly 17, whereby the body 18 may be flattened to a varying degree, for example, as shown in dotted view at 18', to correspondingly change the shape of the duct 20, thus providing the effect of a change in lip configuration, causing a corresponding tonal change in the sound emitted by the associated instrument.

The inner rim of shell member 19 is provided with an integral flange 24 which is received against the olfset peripheral flange 25 of a rigid baflle plate 26 interposed between the resiliently-deformable mouthpiece assembly 17 and the rim of the bell-shaped stem member 14. An externally-knurled clamping ring 28 is threadedly-engaged on the member 14, said clamping ring being provided with an inturned clamping flange 29 which overlies the flange 24 and which secures flange 24 against flange 25 when the ring 28 is tightened. Baflie plate 26 is provided with a horizontal slot 31 which registers with the horizontallyelongated bore or duct 20, registry being positively assured by the provision of an integral aligning projection 32 on flange 24 which is received in a corresponding notch 33 provided in the flange 25 of baflle plate 26. Projection 32 is located to enter the notch 33 when the slot 31 is substantially registered with the horizontally-elongated duct passage 20.

When the player blows through the resiliently-deformable mouthpiece assembly 17, the artificial lips defined by the thickened inner portions of body 18 will vibrate, and the frequency of the sound thus generated will depend upon the amount of biting force applied to the mouthpiece by the users teeth. The compressive force of the users teeth will cause the resiliently-deformable body 18 to be changed in its configuration, for example, to be changed from the full-line configuration of FIGURE to the dotted-line configuration shown at 18, stretching the duct horizontally and decreasing its vertical height as viewed in FIGURE 5, whereby to generate a sound frequency higher than the normal frequency produced ing the biting force, the cross-sectional shape of the duct when the body 18 is in its normal configuration. By varying the biting force, the cross-sectional shape of the duct 20 may be varied in a manner corresponding to variations produced by changes in embrochure in conventional playing of a wind-musical instrument.

As will be readily apparent, the results which may be achieved by using the above-described mouthpiece assembly substantially simulate those which would be obtained by conventional embouchure without the necessity of the intensive and systematic practice necessary to maintain the facial muscles in a highly-developed state. By the use of the above-described device, it is no longer necessary to spend the excessive amount of time required to develop satisfactory facial muscle development and, therefore, the process of learning to play a wind-musical instrument can be made much less arduous.

While the mouthpiece assembly above-described is primarily advantageously useful as a substitute for monthpieces employed on wind instruments such as trombones, trumpets, cornets, or the like, for providing the required embouchure, a mouthpiece assembly according to the present invention may also be of advantage for use on other types of wind instruments, such as clarinets, saxaphones, or the like, in place of the reed customarily employed, since the use of a mouthpiece assembly according to the present invention will provide a different tonal quality and other characteristics, which are quite different from those which can be obtained from a conventional reed.

While a specific embodiment of an improved mouthpiece for providing the embouchure of a wind-musical instrument has been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood that various modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that no limitations be placed on the invention except as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A mouthpiece for providing the embouchure of a wind-musical instrument comprising a rigid tubular stem member adapted to be inserted in a wind-musical instrument, an artificial lip element comprising a generally tubular mouthpiece body of resiliently-deformable material having an axial duct and being formed so that the duct normally has a horizontally-elongated transverse crosssectional shape, said mouthpiece body having a tapering free end adapted to be received in the users mouth and adapted to be engaged between the users teeth so that the cross-sectional shape of the duct can be varied by varying the pressure exerted by the teeth, means clampingly-securing said mouthpiece body to the end of the stem member, and a rigid baflle plate having a horizontal slot, said baifle plate being interposed between the mouthpiece body and the stern member with the slot substantially in registry with the duct.

2. The mouthpiece of claim 1, and interen-gaging means on the baffle plate and the mouthpiece body to provide positive registry of the slot with the duct.

3. The mouthpiece of claim 2, and wherein said interengaging means comprises a projection on the rim of the mouthpiece body, said baflie plate being formed with a notch in its edge receiving said projection.

4. The mouthpiece of claim 3, and wherein the baffle plate has an offset rim flange and the mouthpiece body has a rim flange engageable against said first-named rim flange, the projection being formed on said second-named rim flange and the notch being formed in said first-named rim flange.

5. The mouthpiece of claim 2, and wherein the tapering free end portion of the mouthpiece body is horizontally-elongated in shape.

6. The mouthpiece of claim 1, and wherein the walls of the duct are thickened so that they converge vertically inwardly from the tapering free end of the mouthpiece body to provide said horizontally-elongated transverse cross-sectional shape.

7. The mouthpiece of claim 4, and wherein said securing means comprises a rigid ring member threadedlyengaging said stem member and having an inturned clamping flange engaging against said mouthpiece body rim flange.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 147,759 2/187 4- Fowler 84-398 303,996 8/1884- Fowler 84398 474,118 5/1892 Fowler 84398 1,353,297 9/1920 Widmayer 84399 1,513,950 11/1924 Widmayer 84-399 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

G. H. MILLER, IR., Assistant Examiner. 

1. A MOUTHPIECE FOR PROVIDING THE EMBOUCHURE OF A WIND-MUSICAL INSTRUMENT COMPRISING A RIGID TUBULAR STEM MEMBER ADAPTED TO BE INSERTED IN A WIND-MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, AN ARTIFICIAL LIP ELEMENT COMPRISING A GENERALLY TUBULAR MOUTHPIECE BODY OF RESILIENTLY-DEFORMABLE MATERIAL HAVING AN AXIAL DUCT AND BEING FORMED SO THAT THE DUCT NORMALLY HAS A HORIZONTALLY-ELONGATED TRANSVERSE CROSSSECTIONAL SHAPE, SAID MOUTHPIECE BODY HAVING A TAPERING FREE END ADAPTED TO BE RECEIVED IN THE USER''S MOUTH AND ADAPTED TO BE ENGAGED BETWEEN THE USER''S TEETH SO THAT THE CROSS-SECTIONAL SHAPE OF THE DUCT CAN BE VARIED BY VARYING THE PRESSURE EXERTED BY THE TEETH, MEANS CLAMPINGLY-SECURING SAID MOUTHPIECE BODY TO THE END OF THE STEM MEMBER, AND A RIGID BAFFLE PLATE HAVING A HORIZONTAL SLOT, SAID BAFFLE PLATE BEING INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE MOUTHPIECE BODY AND THE STEM MEMBER WITH THE SLOT SUBSTANTIALLY IN REGISTRY WITH THE DUCT. 